There are many ball-throwing machines on the market. Most require at least two people to operate, and most are not suitable for young children to use by themselves because of possible injury from the propelled ball. These machines deliver a normal sized and weight ball (i.e., a hard ball weighing 9 oz.) to the batter at speeds of 60 to 70 m.p.h. At these delivery speeds and weights, the area around where a baseball is thrown is dangerous and not suited for young children. Also, most baseball throwing machines require a large outdoor area for use that makes them impractical during inclement weather.
Some examples of this type of device are taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,505,617, 6,508,243, 6,523,533, 6,546,924, 6,647,975 and 6,705,305.
There are also numerous stationary and tethered ball-hitting devices on the market. Some examples of these devices are taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,830,371, 6,666,776, 6,666,781 and 6,672,979. While these devices are suitable for young children they do not develop “eye on the ball” coordination as well as an untethered ball. In addition the stationary untethered hitting devices require balls to be retrieved and loaded manually one at a time onto the device before each hit.
It is also known in the art to utilize highly pressurized air to propel a ball toward a batter. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,507,271 and 5,823,894 teach apparatus for propelling balls smaller than a baseball, such as a golf whiffle ball, at timed intervals from a storage bin. The bin contains a plate with a single hole that rotates at timed intervals and permits one ball to be delivered to a continuous air source to propel the ball to a batter. This small ball is then hit with a bat that is smaller and lighter in weight than an ordinary baseball bat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,621 teaches a portable ball pitching machine which uses a combusting gas to drive a piston which compresses air behind a ball and propels the ball through a barrel. A combustible mixture of air and propane are introduced into a combustion chamber, and a ball is loaded against an air exit of a barrel housing. The gas is ignited in the combustion chamber driving a piston through a compression chamber and generating compressed air. The compressed air is directed through the barrel housing to the air exit and the ball is propelled from the barrel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,931 teaches a ball throwing machine which includes a camera connected to a computer vision unit and a microphone connected to a speech-processing unit. The computer vision unit processes images from the camera to determine a user's position, and to detect user gestures from a predetermined repertoire of gestures. The speech-processing unit recognizes user vocal commands from a predetermined repertoire of commands. A computer receives information from a control panel, from the computer vision unit, from the speech-processing unit, and from a file describing the ballistic properties of the ball to be thrown. The computer accordingly determines a ball trajectory according to the user's position and parameters indicated by a combination of control-panel settings, user gestures, and user vocal commands. The computer then adjusts the direction, elevation, ball speed, and ball spin to conform to the determined trajectory, and initiates throwing of a ball accordingly.
These devices require substantial distance between the batter and the device, making them unsuitable for foul weather practice. In addition, young children may not yet be ready to practice with devices which propel a ball at the velocities generated by these devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,878 teaches a ball tossing device for batting practice which includes a pneumatically controlled and actuated mechanism. The device includes a launcher which includes a pneumatic cylinder, a ball carrier and a trough type feeder for sequentially supplying balls to the carrier for throwing. The pneumatic cylinder is actuated by compressed air from a regulated source of highly pressurized air (e.g. air compressor or air tank), with timer means which control actuation of a valve to transmit the compressed air to the cylinder.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,684,872 teaches a fixed point contact practicing machine which includes a vertical ball popping device being disposed on a base of the practicing machine. A pneumatic cylinder utilizes compressed air to compress a coil spring. The compressed air is released from the cylinder to allow the spring to eject the baseball in a vertical manner.
These devices require an air compressor or air tank to provide compressed air. Air compressors are generally very large and expensive pieces of machinery. In addition, air compressors create a great deal of noise and should not be used by young children without adult supervision. Air tanks typically have internal pressures of up to 2000 PSI clearly making them unsuitable for young children to use. Still yet, these devices do not provide a catch net for controlling hit balls and would require a large number of balls which would then have to be retrieved after a short practice period and reloaded into the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,670 teaches a swing training apparatus which supplies vertically tossed baseballs for a batter to hit. The device includes a catch net and a channel guide to direct collected balls to the spring loaded ball ejector.
While this device provides a catch net to eliminate the need to retrieve balls, the ball ejector is only capable of providing a very predictable vertically tossed ball. This causes the batter to develop timing, and groove his swing to the strike zone for a single type of ball delivery. This does not develop the “eye on the ball” practice needed to hit the ball with the bat as occurs in a game.
While the foregoing described prior art devices have improved the art and in some instances enjoyed commercial success, there remains nonetheless a continuing need in the art for evermore improved, amusing, interesting and entertaining devices to improve a young child's sports enjoyment and ability.
Therefore what is needed in the art is a batting practice device that is capable of delivering balls with suitable trajectory variation to develop “eye on the ball” coordination. The device should include a catch net and a recycling assembly to eliminate the need to chase balls for reloading the device. The device should include a catch net to permit the device to be used indoors for foul weather practice. The device should deliver a lightweight ball to minimize player fatigue to allow increased practice time. The device should also be constructed to break down for compact storage and shipping.